Use Claude Desktop when you want Claude to work with files and tools on your computer. In the desktop app, Claude can read and edit folders you connect, use local MCP servers, and on some plans use other apps on your screen. claude.ai in a browser can’t reach your computer. For chatting, drafting, uploading a few files, Projects and cloud connectors like Google Drive, the website does the same job.
Three things change the answer:
- Your plan. Chat in the desktop app works on every plan, Free included. Folder access through Cowork needs Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise (install guide).
- Your computer. Claude Desktop runs on macOS 13 or later and Windows 10 or later, with a Linux beta for Ubuntu and Debian. Some extras are Mac only. If you can’t install apps on the computer you’re using, the website is your option.
- Where your material lives. If it’s on your disk, you need the desktop app. If it’s in Google Drive, Slack or email, connectors work on the web too.
What can Claude Desktop do that the web can’t?
Anything that has to reach your computer needs the desktop app. Anthropic’s comparison of web, desktop and mobile lists local file access, browser use, computer use and local MCP servers as desktop-only.
Work in folders on your computer. In Cowork, you connect a folder and Claude reads, edits and creates files in it. It can only reach the folders you’ve connected, and finished work is saved back there instead of coming to you as a download. If your message box no longer shows a Chat/Cowork switch, you have the merged version, where Claude decides when a request needs a longer task. The steps are in Can Claude Desktop access local files?, and this comparison covers the other ways to give Claude a folder.
Use local MCP servers and desktop extensions. Desktop extensions install from Settings → Extensions and run on your computer, so they can reach local files, a local database or apps like Apple Notes. Anthropic says they work only in Claude Desktop and Claude Code, not on web or mobile. Connectors you add on the web connect from Anthropic’s cloud, so the server has to be reachable over the public internet. A tool that only runs on your laptop can’t be one of them.
Use your apps. With computer use, Claude can click, type and open apps on your screen when no connector covers the job. It’s in beta on Pro and Max, on macOS and Windows, and it asks before it touches each app. The desktop app is also getting a built-in browser for web tasks, rolling out now.
Ask from any app. On a Mac, double-tap Option to open quick entry over whatever you’re working on, then attach a screenshot or a window.
When is the website enough?
The web is enough when your material is already in the chat or in the cloud. Conversations, projects, memory, skills, uploads, voice and connectors such as email, calendar, Slack and Drive work the same on the web, your phone and the desktop app.
Long tasks don’t need the desktop app either. On Pro and Max you can start a Cowork task on claude.ai, and since October 6, 2026, new sessions run in the cloud and keep going after you close the laptop (Anthropic).
What the web can’t do is open a folder on your disk. A cloud session reaches your connected folders only while the desktop app is open on that computer, and only if the session started there or is a scheduled task. A task you start in the browser works with uploads and cloud files.
For a handful of files, uploading is fine; How can I upload a folder to Claude? covers the limits. Whichever way a file gets in, check how much of it Claude read.
What does “local” mean here?
Your files stay on your computer; the work doesn’t. On Pro and Max, a Cowork session runs in Anthropic’s cloud. When a task needs a file, Claude fetches a copy of just that file through the desktop app, and saves its results back to your folder. The copies are deleted when you delete the session (Anthropic). The Cowork guide says local files need the app “even though your session runs in the cloud.” Whatever Claude reads is sent to its model, like anything you paste into a chat.
“Local AI” can also mean running an open-weight model on your own machine, so nothing leaves it. Claude doesn’t work that way. If that’s what you’re after, see open-weight models you can run on one GPU or a Mac.
Why are AI apps moving onto your computer?
For AI to work with your files, either the files go to the cloud or the AI comes to your computer. Nobody uploads every file they have, so the AI is coming to you. A chat window only knows what you put into it. Revising a folder of drafts, or pulling notes from ten documents into one outline, needs the files where they are.
That’s why I moved. I used Claude in the browser for a long time, and now I use the desktop app because it can reach the files on my computer.
The three big assistants are all moving that way:
- ChatGPT launched in 2022 as a website. Its desktop app now combines Chat, Work and Codex (what’s new), and can work in folders on your computer.
- Claude has Claude Desktop, with Cowork for folders and Claude Code for code.
- Gemini added a Mac app that can open and edit folders you connect. The Windows app doesn’t have folder access yet (more on Gemini).
ChatGPT desktop vs web
ChatGPT splits the same way. On the web, a ChatGPT project doesn’t give direct access to a folder on your computer; you upload files or connect sources. In the desktop app, a local project gives chats access to one or more folders, and Work can read and change files there with your permission. The details are in ChatGPT desktop vs web, and setup is in Can ChatGPT access local files?
Claude Desktop vs Claude Code
Claude Code is already inside Claude Desktop. Anthropic’s coding agent runs in the terminal, in VS Code and JetBrains, in the desktop app and on the web. The desktop app’s Code tab is Claude Code with a graphical interface: point it at a folder and review its changes without a terminal.
So in the app, the choice is between tabs. Code is for software: it runs commands, shows diffs and uses git. Cowork brings the same kind of agent to documents, spreadsheets and folders of notes. Both need a paid plan. Claude Desktop vs Claude Code goes into the differences.
Which should you use?
| You want to | Use |
|---|---|
| Brainstorm, draft, ask questions | Either |
| Ask about a few files | Either; upload them |
| Work with Drive, Slack or email | Either; add a connector |
| Let Claude read and edit a folder on your computer | Desktop, Cowork on a paid plan |
| Use a local MCP server or desktop extension | Desktop |
| Let Claude use other apps on your screen | Desktop, computer use (beta, Pro and Max) |
| Work on code | Claude Code, in the terminal or the desktop Code tab |
Where StashBase fits
StashBase is built on the same idea, for writing. It’s a free, open-source app that opens a folder of notes and sources on your computer. You brainstorm, draft and revise with Claude, Codex or Antigravity through your existing account, so a Claude or ChatGPT subscription you already pay for works. If you have neither, the built-in agent comes with free credits when you sign in. The agent looks for context in your notes and past writing, so you don’t paste it in every time. Your documents stay ordinary files.
It reads PDFs (scanned ones too), Word docs, images, saved web pages and Markdown. Keyword search works without an account; search by meaning stays off until you add your own OpenAI or OpenRouter key. If you’d rather stay in Claude Desktop, it can connect to StashBase as a local MCP server and search your projects, the kind of tool only the desktop app can use (setup).